


wing the midway air

by blackkat



Series: hawks 'verse [15]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dogs, Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25542700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: “Avoid Rex,” is the first thing Cody says as he hauls Neyo's bags out of the back of the taxi. “I haven’t seen anyone sulk this badly since Fives realized Echo was fifteen hours older.”
Relationships: CC-8826 | Neyo/Mace Windu
Series: hawks 'verse [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825195
Comments: 33
Kudos: 618





	wing the midway air

“Avoid Rex,” is the first thing Cody says as he hauls Neyo's bags out of the back of the taxi. “I haven’t seen anyone sulk this badly since Fives realized Echo was fifteen hours older.”

Neyo raises a brow, glancing into the store, but before he can ask anything, Rex calls, “Shut up, Cody!” from the depths of one of the aisles. It does sound rather like he’s sulking.

“What happened?” Neyo asks, clicks his tongue. Instantly, Wac’s ears perk up, and the big shepherd leaps to his feet, sticking himself to Neyo's side. Neyo drops a hand on his head, avoiding the shaved patch that’s still growing back in, and follows Cody as he swings Neyo's bags over his shoulder and heads for the store.

He’s expecting Cody to say that it’s a bad day, or maybe that Jango's been overbearing. Instead, Cody snickers, and says, “His boyfriend got lost in the woods and hasn’t called him in three days.”

Neyo blinks.

“He’s not _lost_ , he’s _working_ ,” Rex says from down the canned goods aisle, very obviously annoyed. “A new hawk is trying to join the group, and he’s getting to see behaviors no one has ever managed to capture before—”

“You're such a nerd,” Cody says despairingly, like he hasn’t had the biggest crush imaginable on the biggest nerd Neyo has ever met for _years_. Neyo's mostly only been in contact with Rex and Keeli, and he _still_ knows all the details about Cody's adventures in pigheaded obliviousness.

Cody either doesn’t see or doesn’t acknowledge Neyo's raised eyebrow, though. He drops Neyo's bags by the counter, and says, “If I have to watch you sulk about him missing the cookout—”

Rex pokes his head around the end of the shelves to scowl at Cody. “He’ll be back by then, there are still three days. And he’s not _lost_ , he probably just forgot to charge his phone again.”

Neyo eyes Rex, and—he can't remember him mentioning a boyfriend the last time they talked, so it must be a relatively new thing. “Boyfriend?” he asks. “A student?”

Rex scoffs. “He’s a researcher, looking at the jaig hawk colonies in the reserve. Jaster knows him.”

“And Dad thinks he’s the hottest thing on two—”

“ _Cody_ ,” Rex says, outraged, and chucks the price sticker gun right at Cody's head. Cody, who’s always had maddeningly good reflexes, catches it out of the air, grinning.

Neyo rolls his eyes, glancing down at Wac. “Bomb disposal was probably quieter,” he tells him, and Wac grins, tongue lolling. With a sigh, Neyo ruffles his ears, then shifts his weight so Wac can lean on him, which is a bad habit Neyo probably should have broken him of, but—

Well. Wac was no one’s idea of a perfect bomb dog, right up until he saved a hundred lives. Getting to keep him when Neyo mustered out was an act of kindness on his general’s part, for both Neyo and Wac, and Neyo took full advantage.

With a low groan, Wac sinks all the way to the ground, dropping his head on his paws and shoving his big furry body up against Neyo's calf. His eyes are following Rex and Cody as they bicker, and Neyo watches them as well for a moment, then pointedly clears his throat.

“So,” he says. “Dad’s supposed to take me to the house, right?”

Rex grimaces, and Cody rolls his eyes, setting down the dust rag he was about to throw at Rex. “He’s _supposed_ to, yeah,” Cody says. “But Keeli and Doom were riding herd on him last night, and Doom bailed halfway through to go play newlywed with Tae, and _Keeli_ wasn’t about to help Dad make good decision. I think Keeli said he left him in a ditch somewhere to sleep it off, and knowing Keeli, that’s literal.”

Neyo sighs, aggrieved, and rubs the heel of his palm against his forehead. “Of course,” he mutters. “Who do you think picked him up this time?”

Rex snorts. “Knowing Dad’s luck? Probably a supermodel,” he says, and Neyo will admit that’s not nearly as far out of the range of possibility as it probably should be. Jango has a way of charming people who really should know better. All of their mothers included.

“I assume I'm waiting here, then,” he says, more or less resigned to it. Cody and Rex usually come in the same car.

“We’ve got deliveries all day, so we both need to be here,” Cody says apologetically. “And it’s midterms at the university, so pretty much everyone we could call is tied up. There’s wifi, though.”

Neyo rolls his eyes, but tips his head at the back sitting area. “I’ll hang around and frighten your customers off,” he says dryly.

“If Cody hasn’t frightened them off, you definitely won't be able to,” Rex says, smirking, and is promptly hit in the side of the head with a dust rag. “ _Cody_!”

“Grab a coffee if you want it,” Cody says, and he’s _eminently_ pleased with himself. “And a sandwich, too—the cooler’s stocked with Charger’s subs.”

“Thanks.” Neyo steps over Wac, and the dog scrambles up, sticking himself to Neyo's leg again. He’s all contained energy, practically vibrating to run as Neyo pushes out into the rear courtyard, and Neyo sighs and tells him, “Fine, but stay close.”

Wac all but wiggles, shoving into Neyo in one strong push and then leaping away, running to sniff around the edges of the patio. Neyo raises his eyes skyward, not able to believe, despite the evidence, that Wac ever actually graduated the bomb dog program, let alone got assigned, but—

Well. Neyo's alive because of Wac, so apparently it worked out.

And then, startling, damning, there's a yelp, a crash, a curse.

Neyo closes his eyes, prays to all of the old Mandalorian gods for patience, and goes to see what Wac ruined now.

There's no one visible on the main patio, but there's a small pond and a willow beyond it, a pair of picnic tables that Neyo knows regulars tend to favor. When he shoves through the trailing willow branches, there is indeed a laptop set up on the closest one, a cup of tea, a half-eaten cookie. It’s a perfect scene, except for the fact that the cup of tea is upside down on the chest of the man half-sprawled in the grass, one leg still hooked over the bench, and the other half of the cookie is hanging out of Wac’s mouth as he stands on top of the innocent bystander he's decided to maul today.

“ _Wac_ ,” Neyo snaps, and Wac’s ears go flat. Defiantly, he wolfs down his stolen piece of cookie, then leaps off the man, who wheezes faintly, and mulishly plants his ass in the dirt, looking unrepentant.

“I'm _very_ sorry about my dog,” Neyo says, which is an understatement. “I swear he’s actually well-trained.”

“That’s all right,” the man says, unmoving. “I'm a teacher, so I'm well-accustomed to getting mauled out of nowhere by big hairy beasts.”

Despite himself, Neyo snorts. He leans over, offering the man a hand, and the man takes it readily, letting Neyo haul him back up onto his feet. The teacup drops to the ground, tumbling over in the grass, and the man grimaces as he pulls his wet sweater off. It leaves him in a slightly wet lavender oxford, and Neyo tries his best not to eye the muscle he can see. The man’s tall, tall and lean and broad in the shoulders, and he’s got the kind of face Neyo doesn’t quite want to pull his eyes away from.

“At least he missed the computer,” the man says with faint humor. “If I had to tell my students I’d lost their finals, I think I would have had four classes worth of freshmen in tears within two paragraphs. Usually it takes me at least three.”

“High school?” Neyo asks. Given the man’s demeanor, it seems possible— _unflappable_ is probably a good trait for someone dealing with teenagers.

“University,” the man says dryly. “Thankfully.” He offers a hand, a hint of humor around the lines of his mouth. “Mace Windu, professor of bioclimatology. A Fett, I presume.”

“Neyo,” Neyo admits. “And the bastard thief is Wac.”

Mace raises a brow, but picks up the other half of his cookie, then crouches down. Instantly, sensing a soft heart, Wac perks up his ears, then ducks his head and slinks over with an expression that’s definitely entirely sorry, really truly. Neyo rolls his eyes so hard they hurt, but Mace just snorts, breaking off a piece of the cookie and offering it up.

“Fond of oatmeal, I see,” he says archly, as Wac delicately takes it from his fingertips. “You have good taste, sir.”

Wac whuffs happily, stealing another piece as Mace offers it up.

“Master Sergeant my ass,” Neyo mutters, even though there’s a warm thread of amusement in his chest. “You're just a beggar.”

Wac lifts his head to give him a doggy grin, unrepentant and entirely shameless. With a huff, Neyo gently shoves at him, then says, “If he’s panting in your face, I can send him to go lie down.”

“He’s fine. I like animals quite a lot.” Mace rubs behind his ears, then strokes his ruff, and smiles a little when Wac noses into his hand for more crumbs. “Injured in the line of duty, I see.”

Carefully, Neyo takes a seat on the far end of the bench, watching Wac and Mace. Wac’s a ham, but he doesn’t tend to take to most people to the point of tackling them out of their seats, and seeing him like this, without having to be constantly on duty, is…good. “Honorable discharge, for both of us.”

“Rex has mentioned you were ending your service,” Mace says, though he doesn’t look up from Wac. “I believe he’s been looking forward to having you home.”

“Me and Keeli,” Neyo says dryly, and—if Mace knows that, he must be friends with the family. That realization makes something that could be relief or anticipation rise, no matter how Neyo tries to push it down. “The prodigal sons.”

Mace raises a brow, looking amused. “Keeli had to be dragged home by one of our wayward professors, so perhaps you shouldn’t count him.”

Neyo blinks. This is one story Keeli _definitely_ left out when he sent Neyo an email saying he was back. “A professor? What, did they fish him out of a jungle and scrub the mud off?”

“Out of a prison cell, I believe.” Mace takes one look at Neyo's expression and snorts. “He left that out?”

“He did,” Neyo says, annoyed. “ _Prison_?”

“A drunk tank, as Quinlan tells it.” Mace rises to his feet again, brushing his hands off, and then picks up his teacup. He inspects it critically for a moment, and then says, “I can tell you the story as I heard it, but let me get a new cup first. I believe this one is rather…hairy.”

Neyo grimaces, shooting another dark look at Wac. Wac’s too busy hunting for any more crumbs in the grass to notice. “It’s on me,” he says firmly. “Seeing as it was my dog that ruined your first cup.”

“If you think this is my first cup, clearly you’ve never met an academic,” Mace says dryly, but he doesn’t protest when Neyo stands and falls into step with him. “But thank you.”

Neyo gives him a shadow of a smile. “No problem—”

Wac hits him full-force in the side of the knee, and Neyo trips. He tumbles right into Mace, who yelps, and they go down in a tangle, Wac whining high-pitched and happy on top.

Neyo blinks down at Mace from a distance of about four centimeters, entirely winded, and not just because of the fifty-five kilograms of dog sprawled on top of him. Mace's dark eyes are far too close, and his mouth is—

“Neyo?” Cody asks, and the door opens. “If you're still—Neyo, what the _hell_?”

Neyo closes his eyes and groans. The vibration of Mace's quiet laughter beneath him is about the only good part of this, but—well.

That’s a hell of a lot already.


End file.
